Five Times Tony Denied Playing Favourites and the One Time He Admitted
by celestial-irondad
Summary: Tony denies favouring Peter to the rest of the Avengers, until he admits it.


**one. **

Tony was in the kitchen, all his electronics displayed out in front of him, actually doing work. The other Avengers and the kid had gone out on a simple rescue mission, a quick break in and out kind of thing.

He would have gone, but after weeks of neglecting SI paperwork, the amount of things he had to do piled up. Pepper, of course, had absolutely put her foot down when Tony offered to go in place of Steve, saying that it was his punishment for always putting SI last.

Now, Tony was bitterly reading through and signing his assigned paperwork. He had it easy, Pepper was the one doing the hard work, filtering the things Tony had to do.

Really, Tony Stark should be happy he got himself a Pepper Potts.

"Boss," F.R.I.D.A.Y interrupted the billionaire's internal monologue, "Ms. Romanoff has called using the emergency 'someone has a boo boo' protocol. Patching her through now."

Fear thrummed in Tony's veins. What if Peter got injured? Shit, why hadn't he just dealt with paperwork when needed so he could've went with Peter?

"Tony, I need you to prepare the med bay—"

He didn't even let the ex-assassin finish. "Where's Peter? Is he injured? He better be okay, or I swear to—"

"Tony? Tony," Natasha interrupted his ramblings. "Peter's with us, he's got some injuries—"

The billionaire cursed. _This_ was why he wanted to go on missions with Peter. Who else could protect his spider-baby as well as he could? Who else can shield the teenage boy from the big, bad, awful world? Who else can swoop in to save the day like Tony could?

He faintly heard Natasha ramble on about Steve being injured, but he was too busy rushing down to the med bay, preparing all the equipment that may be needed.

When Natasha told Tony they were a few minutes away from reaching the tower, he rushed back up to smooth their landing.

The first person to come out of the Quinjet was Steve, who was leaning heavily on Natasha. He was beaten up thoroughly, bruises and cuts littering his body. He had a black eye, and a limp. He was hunched over, abdomen having suffered from injury.

"Where's Peter?" Was the first thing that came tumbling out of his mouth. Shit. He should've at least showed concern towards Steve, but his mind was focused only on his kid, who was not in sight.

Natasha sighed. "He's sleeping in the Quinjet."

The billionaire hastily told the duo that Ms. Cho was waiting for them in the med bay, before rushing into the jet.

In there, Carol had his kid sprawled out on her lap. Peter had a cut on his face, it was deep enough to raise concerns but Tony already had worries before seeing his spider-baby. Seeing _his_ kid injured, no matter how small, had him seeing red.

He rushed over quietly, and Carol stopped running her fingers through Peter's hair to look up at him.

"He's resting now," Carol said simply, "he will wake up and he will be fine."

The thing was, Peter shouldn't have had scratches at all. He had a whole league of superheroes who were supposed to protect him, _and_ he had a sixth sense to warn him from danger. How could he still get hurt?

Tony scooped up the teen with strong arms wordlessly. Without a second glance to the woman who probably did her best to protect his kid, he went down to the med bay.

And if the Avengers talk about him favouring Peter, Tony doesn't have to know, because he'd definitely deny it.

—

**two.**

Tony loves his coffee, to the point where it gets a little annoying.

He has a special mug just for his coffee and his coffee machines— yes, machines, as in plural— cost at least a few thousand dollars per machine.

It was overwhelming.

The billionaire was also protective of his coffee. Sure, you could use his coffee machine, the really good one on his personal floor, but if anyone took his mug of coffee...

Let's just say, it wouldn't end well for them.

"Morning," Rhodey mumbled, shuffling into the kitchen with half-lidded eyes. Tony glanced up at his best friend, offering a small smile before resuming whatever he was doing before.

The colonel reached out to grab Tony's mug of coffee, but before his hand even reached the handle, Tony's own hand shot out to grabs his. Brown eyes bored into the colonel's, intense enough to give him the shudders.

The room was eerily silent as they waited for Tony to scream, like he did when Steve took his coffee. But, the billionaire looked pretty calm.

"Get your own coffee, Rhodes. This is mine."

Rhodey couldn't decide if angry and loud or angry and silent Tony was scarier.

The colonel walked to the coffee machine, tiredness erased by the fear coursing through his veins. Steve and Natasha resumed reading on the couch in the living room, with Clint and Scott playing a card game in the corner.

Carol and Valkyrie say on the same bean bag, looking too close to be just friends. Thor and Bruce were the same, although they looked ridiculous considering their bulky frames and the size of a typical bean bag.

Everybody seemed to be in their own world, but when a certain clumsy, brown-eyed teen walked in, everyone in the room looked up.

For once, the teen wasn't his bubbly and lively self. He had bags under his eyes, walking with a hunch. The poor boy looked like death itself, dragging his feet across the floor into the kitchen.

Tony furrowed his eyebrows at the sight, worry written all over his face. Everyone was silent as dragged himself into Tony's awaiting arms.

"Oh, Pete," Tony whispered, carrying Peter onto his lap. "It's okay baby, I'm almost done with work. Then, we'll go back to my room and you'll get some rest, yes?"

Peter only whimpered his response. As Tony rushed to get his work done, Peter reached out to grab his mentor's mug. Before anyone could warn him to stop, Peter brought the mug of coffee up to his lips and took a sip.

The whole level was silent, as if waiting for Tony to explode, but the billionaire didn't seem to notice. Peter kept taking occasional sips from the mug and Rhodey stood by the coffee machine, muttering about favouritism.

"Take it easy with the coffee, kiddo," Tony didn't even look up, going through his paperwork like a rocket launching into the sky.

Steve abandoned his sketch book to gale at Tony. "I took a sip the other day and you nearly killed me! One! Sip! A singular! Sip!"

Tony levels Steve with a glare. "Quiet. Peter's not feeling well."

Rhodey mumbles something about Tony being a 'dad' to himself, but he wasn't really mumbling and it really wasn't to himself. The people in the room snickers, and murmurs of agreement could be heard.

Tony just rolls his eyes and gathers the kid in his arms, leaving important paperwork scattered all over the kitchen countertop as he walks to his living quarters. The other Avengers obviously don't talk about how much of a protective 'dad' Tony is.

Nope, not at all.

—

**three.**

Very few people had access into Tony's labs. The genius was a _little_ stingy when it came to his labs; it was where the magic happened. The only few people known to have access were Pepper Potts and Rhodey. If the other Avengers wanted to go into the labs, they would have to ask for explicit permission to enter. Tony didn't just allow _anyone_ to enter. His most prized possessions were in his haven.

Scott was in the living room, sprawled out on the sofa, watching the big screen when Peter walked in. The boy had just ended school, and wore a bright smile as he exited the lift into the common area.

"Hi, Mr. Lang, sir!"

Was it a sin to not at least smile back at the bubbly, innocent boy? It felt like it was.

Scott pauses the show to focus on the teen. "Hiya, Pete! What'cha you doing here?"

The boy grinned, teeth fully on display, showing how happy he was to be at the tower. He slung his bag onto the floor, beside the sofa, and trudged to the kitchen after answering, "I'm here for Mr. Stark."

The ex-criminal scowled. "Stark? He's in his labs. We tried to bring him out for lunch, but he wouldn't let anyone in. Pepper is busy and Rhodey is out, so we gave up."

Peter stopped whatever he was doing in the kitchen, his head peeking out. His eyebrows were furrowed, a small pout playing on his lips. "Mr. Stark hasn't eaten?"

Was it just Scott, or did the child's voice hold disappointment? The man shook his head to answer the kid's question, moving to sit up on the couch properly. He watched with curious eyes as Peter prepared more food than what he himself could take. Was he making food for that genius billionaire, too?

When Peter made a move to leave the kitchen, Scott leaped up. "Are you going to give Tony food?"

Big brown eyes looked up at him. "Yeah, Mr. Stark wouldn't eat if he's left alone. He's too buried deep in his work to focus on anything else, sometimes."

Why did the kid sound like he was talking from experience? "Okay, sure, but your dad won't let anyone in. I think he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to block us out while he's working or something."

Peter didn't answer, just snickered as he walked in the direction of the labs, food clutched tightly in his arms. Scott was curious as to how this small child would get Tony out of his working space, so he followed him like a lost dog.

Once outside the pristine doors to the mystery that is Tony Stark's lab, Peter brought up his hand to be scanned.

"Welcome back, Peter," F.R.I.D.A.Y's voice came, shocking Scott. "Boss hasn't slept for forty-seven hours, and hasn't touched food since last night."

Peter thanked the artificial intelligence for the information and entered the lab, with Scott awkwardly standing at the sidelines, afraid of entering. But for where he stood, he saw Peter dump the food on an empty marble table right beside the door, before speed-walking to the genius.

"Mr. Stark," his faint voice could be heard from where the ex-criminal was, being a stalker and all. "You have to eat. Come, I made food."

Then, Tony's messy hair could be seen and all Scott could do was gape at the duo with his mouth open. Peter waved him in, ignoring his mentor's scowl, and offered him a sandwich he made.

"Ya'know, this is favouritism right here," Scott said, mouth full. "This is real unfair."

The billionaire glared at the hero. "What favourites? I'm fair to everyone. Right, Pete?"

Peter grinned at the two adults, nodded for the sake of pleasing his mentor. They all knew Tony liked Peter best.

—

**four.**

"So, then, obviously, I was like—"

A groan interrupted Clint's ramblings. Tony glared at the archer from where he was tinkering with his StarkPhone. "I've pulled apart and fixed my phone around twenty times since you've spoke and frankly, I'm getting a tad bit tired."

The Avengers were gathered in the living area, because where else would they be? It had been silent as they waited for their favourite enhanced, who was still in school. Clint, being Clint, started talking about God-knows-what and since the other Avengers were too nice to ask him to shut up, Tony took the liberty.

Before Clint could retort, the elevator doors opened, revealing the kid they were waiting for. He beamed at the people in the room, throwing his bag against the couch like usual.

"Hi guys!" Peter greeted, getting responses, whether reluctant or willing. "Oh, Mr. Stark! You will not believe the day I've had!"

As Peter rambled, he went into the kitchen to prepare his food like always. Steve and Clint looked pointedly at the billionaire as he listened to the child's ranting with a small smile.

"Tony's playing favourites," Natasha whispered, but everyone heard her.

Peter even poked his head out of the kitchen with a confused face. "What did Mr. Stark do?"

Bruce chuckled lightly. "Your dad just snapped at Clint for talking too much, but when you came in and started talking, he's quiet and listening and smiling."

"I don't have favourites," Tony scowled, pretending to be busy by tinkering with his phone yet again.

Natasha kept a straight face as she stared at Tony, nodding seriously. "Sure, and I'm Mary Poppins."

—

**five. **

The Avengers had a group chat, because of course they do. The original purpose of the group chat was to relay information about missions or for asking questions about weapon upgrades they don't understand.

Tony didn't really tolerate unnecessary messages being sent to the group chats, mostly because he got caught that one time during a meeting, and Pepper was a scary person when she's mad. He just didn't want a repeat of angry Pepper.

Of course, the billionaire wasn't one to pay attention to any kind of meeting, expect the ones where the kid was involved, because he was a dad like that. But, Pepper wasn't having any of it, and demanded he pay attention to the meetings so he wasn't clueless in everything.

So, he had no choice but to obey Pepper lest he wanted to be six feet underground.

Like right now, he was in the meeting room, trying to not fall asleep while someone who was probably important talked about… something he didn't have any care for. He had his sunglasses on, because that was the one thing Pepper couldn't take from him.

Glancing lazily to Pepper, Tony noted that she was actually taking notes down. He should really be paying attention, because Pepper would probably test him on his knowledge of the presentation afterwards. But, he really didn't find it in him to try.

Just as he was about to give into his temptation to sleep, the screen on his shades lit up with a notification from Peter to the group chat.

Spider-baby: look! mr. stark, i'm ironman!

Tony clicked on the picture, a picture that said, 'you got: Iron Man. You're very intelligent and do a lot of great things, and you know it. You are often a bit arrogant and condescending, but at the end of the day, everyone knows you're a very good person.'

Spider-baby: mr stark! i'm so happy!

Tears pricked his eyes as he tried to hold back his smile, watching the rapid text messages his kid was sending to the group chat. Only the kid can get him this emotional over a text message. The genius looked up at the board members, before deciding that he didn't care anymore, and whipped out his phone.

He quickly replied to Peter with a joke, big smile and all. Someone cleared their throat, which broke Tony out of his short-lived euphoria. He looked at Pepper with a guilty shy smile, tucking his phone away.

Twenty long minutes later, Tony escaped the confines of the meeting room, rushing up to his living quarters where Peter would definitely be.

In there, Peter is surrounded by two ex-assassins. Natasha is smiling at the spider-boy, while Clint is scowling at nothing.

"Hi, Mr. Stark!" Peter greeted him with a blinding smile. "Did you see the thing I sent to the group chat?"

Tony laughed. "I replied, buddy."

As Peter frantically reached for his phone to check, Clint spoke up. "Ya'know, if it were anyone of us, Pete, your dad wouldn't hesitate to blast us with his gauntlet for being annoying."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Yeah, your dad likes playing favourites."

"No," Tony cuts in, before Peter has anything to say. "I don't."

The vigilante giggled, the sound light and innocent and pure and Tony wondered what he'd done to have to be blessed with the privilege of meeting and knowing this precious kid.

—

**plus one.**

"Ha. Did you hear that, Tony? That was my twentieth alien I've killed," Clint laughed.

There was another alien invasion in New York on this fine afternoon, because of course there was. It was New York, it'd be unusual if there _wasn't_ an alien invasion. They were playing games and having fun with Peter before being dragged into saving the world yet again, so they decided to bring the game into the battlefield.

Whoever killed the most aliens decided where to go for dinner.

"Clint, I'm on my fiftieth," came Tony's reply to the archer's taunting.

Peter was surprisingly quiet over the comms, only an occasional grunt or groan. Tony thought since they were battling aliens, Peter didn't want to waste his genius quips on them.

The group of heroes seemed to be winning, but the battle was going to go down south real fast.

Fury only told them that there were aliens invading New York and sent them on their way, with no information on how to defeat them, since the creatures popped out of nowhere.

"Mr. Stark?" A wobbly voice sounded from over the comms. "I think— something's not— something feels wrong, Mr. Stark."

Tony's heart rate picked up at the wavering voice, first instinct to go to the boy.

Before he could even ask F.R.I.D.A.Y to pull up Peter's location, a similar but much, much bigger alien seemingly sprouted out from nowhere. The genius cursed.

"Peter? Where are you?" Tony asked, and when he got no reply, he cursed again. "F.R.I.D.A.Y! Give me Peter's location now!"

"Tony, we need you to help the Hulk take down the big one," Natasha ordered through the comms.

Static could be heard, before a small, shaky voice spoke up. "Mr. Stark... help... I'm stuck... can't breathe, can't—"

The abrupt end to Peter's cry for help has Tony increasing his thruster speed in his haste to get to him. Peter had called for him through their private line, so he probably only wanted Tony to get him. Not that Tony would let anyone save his kid if he were there to do it himself.

Once F.R.I.D.A.Y had his location on screen, Tony took off with full speed.

"Tony. We need you here now!" Natasha shouted, grunting loudly as an alien hit her.

"The kid needs me, Nat, I have to go."

"Now's not the time to play favourites, Tony! This thing is too big for just us to bring down!"

"You know what? I _am_ playing favourites! And the kid needs me, so I'm going to go to him!"

When Tony reaches the location given by F.R.I.D.A.Y, he almost cried. Peter was nowhere in sight, and the suit wasn't responding. According to F.R.I.D.A.Y, his heartbeat was faint and Karen wasn't responding.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y!" His voice cracked from the fear of losing Peter. "F.R.I.D.A.Y! Track Peter's exact location."

A few moments passed, seemingly like a hundred years, but what really was a few seconds, and F.R.I.D.A.Y responded.

"Peter seems to be under all the rubble, and has been knocked unconscious."

The hero cursed, diving straight into shoving the debris. That giant alien must've caught Peter off-guard, and the poor boy didn't had the time to escape before all the concrete trapped him.

Even after a few minutes of digging, he still couldn't see the familiar red and blue. Tears pricked at his eyes, because he wasn't going to lose the kid over something so small, goddamnit!

"Tony! We need you here—"

"I can't!"

The other open lines were silent, surprised by Tony's outburst. The billionaire was known to have witty remarks, not shouts with a wavering voice, as if he was going to cry.

"I can't," Tony repeated, voice softer, ostensibly calmer. "Okay? The kid needs me, and I'm not going to leave him."

"Where is Peter anyway? We haven't heard from him since the beginning of the battle," Steve asked, and the sound of his shield returning back to him could be heard.

Tony forced back a sob. "I'm finding him. Make sure whatever that is doesn't come near my location."

He cut off his open line, focusing on digging his kid out of the rubble. Once the familiar red and blue could be seen, he retracted his suit, thanking the gods for nanotechnology.

Tony carefully pulled the mask off Peter's face, scared to damage anything else. The kid was breathing, so that was a relief. Tony wasn't sure if he could properly do chest compressions without having a mental breakdown.

He quickly tapped his arc reactor, gently gathering the boy into his arms.

"I'm going back to the tower," he quickly informed the rest of the team.

"Tony— Tony. We need you— we can't— we can't—"

The hero turned his public line off, flying at full speed to the tower after telling Dr. Cho to prepare the med bay. He's praying to whatever deity what will listen to 'please let the spider-ling be okay'.

Tony doesn't bother with entering the tower through the top floor, instead ordering F.R.I.D.A.Y to open the large glass window of the med bay floor. His suit retracted, and he gently placed Peter onto the ugly hospital bed.

Dr. Cho burst into the room with Dr. Strange hot on her heels. "I've received the scan F.R.I.D.A.Y sent me."

The billionaire looked at her worriedly, prompting her to go on. The doctor glanced at Peter, before looking straight into Tony's eyes. "He's lucky he's an enhanced. A normal person wouldn't have survived that."

"Tony," Stephen said, pulling the genius out of his inner turmoil. "It's okay. We'll save him. It's what we do. What doctors do."

The mentor is escorted out of the room, left to wait for hours before he's allowed to see Peter again.

In the room, Peter looked extra small, like a child that need protecting. Tony's child who needs protecting. The genius sits by Peter's bed, head buried in his hands. He should've known something was wrong since Peter was acting funny. It was his fault that his kid was injured.

"Tony."

Looking up at the mention of his name, Tony sees Stephen Strange standing by the door. The mystical man had a comforting smile on his face, but it didn't make Tony feel better.

"You did you best, Tony," Stephen said, reducing the space between them, patting the vulnerable billionaire on his back. "You're the reason why he's still alive, so don't beat yourself up about it."

Tony merely offered the sorcerer a smile, although it felt like a grimace. "Thanks."

The two stayed by Peter's side until he gained consciousness, Tony crying with relief and Stephen smiling awkwardly. They had waited a day and missed important meetings and the debrief.

"Hi, M'ssr S'ark," Peter mumbled, although his voice came out as a whisper. "Don' cry. I'm oh-hay."

Teary-eyed and watery smile, Tony hugged his kid while Dr. Strange offered him a glass of water. A few hours later, Peter looked considerably better, and had enough energy to limp to the common area, with the other Avengers lounging around.

"Hi Aunt Tasha," Peter whispered his greeting as he sat next to her on the couch.

Natasha whispered her own greeting, letting the boy lie down on her lap. "Your dad almost got in trouble, you know?"

Doe eyes looked curiously up at her, prompting her to continue. "He openly admitted that he favoured you, and duh you out of rubble, leaving us to battle the giant alien on our own."

Peter looked at where Mr. Stark sat, body tired but eyes alert, as if waiting for something bad to happen.

"I called for him," Peter confessed. "I was scared and I couldn't breathe, so I called for Mr. Stark to save me."

The ex-assassin sucked in a deep breath, as if she didn't know. Peter was too tired to realise, so he rambled on about how being trapped under all that heavy rubble felt like.

"Now I just feel like the shittiest person alive," Natasha groaned, hand smacking her forehead.

"Hmm?"

She ran her fingers through his hair. "We were mad at Tony for going to you because you're his favourite. We didn't realise you were in danger."

Peter just smiled up at her. "It's okay. Mr. Stark saved me. I'm fine now."

She apologised, kissing the top of Peter's head. "On the bright side, F.R.I.D.A.Y has the audio of your dad admitting you're his favourite."

"Yeah?" Peter smiled, toying at Natasha's shirt.

The woman nodded, grinning wickedly as she pulled out her phone, offering Peter one side of the ear-phones.

—

**the end i guess. **


End file.
